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Study supports for rural mature-aged university health students : a Stakian multicase study
Get PDFBackground: The participation and success of university health students in rural areas is critical in addressing the maldistribution of the rural health workforces internationally. Particular attention to the experiences of mature-aged health students is needed to build a sustainable rural health workforce, given the higher proportions of mature-aged university students in rural, regional and remote areas compared with metropolitan areas and rural mature-aged students wanting to stay in their communities. However, little is known about the kinds of supports rural mature-aged students require to succeed with their studies. Methods: Drawing on rural standpoint theory and using structural inequality as a retention lens, we explored the current and potential supports that rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students require to successfully participate and complete their pre-professional university course. A Stakian multicase study was undertaken with cases at three rural university campuses in Australia. The data collection was primarily qualitative, with semi-structured interviews, campus surveys and focus groups involving 36 participants (including students, academic and professional staff, and placement supervisors). Results: This study found supports were provided formally and informally by the university, by the community and manifested by students. Several support gaps as well as potential supports to alleviate them were identified. These include formally acknowledging the mature-aged cohort and their diverse experiences and non-university commitments; fostering connections between mature-aged students; making university affordable; preparing mature-aged students for university; adapting course content and delivery; and restructuring placements for mature-aged students. Conclusions: We argue that rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students require supports that are age-specific, appropriate to the community context, and harness existing relational processes of rural university campus activity. Rural university campuses need to involve rural mature-aged students and other stakeholders relevant to each context in the process of identifying and implementing student supports for this cohort. © The Author(s) 2024
The impact of elder abuse training on subacute health providers and older adults : study protocol for a randomized control trial
Get PDFBackground: Elder abuse often goes unreported and undetected. Older people may be ashamed, fearful, or otherwise reticent to disclose abuse, and many health providers are not confident in asking about it. In the No More Shame study, we will evaluate a co-designed, multi-component intervention that aims to improve health providers’ recognition, response, and referral of elder abuse. Methods: This is a single-blinded, pragmatic, cluster randomised controlled trial. Ten subacute hospital sites (i.e. clusters) across Australia will be allocated 1:1, stratified by state to a multi-component intervention comprising a training programme for health providers, implementation of a screening tool and use of site champions, or no additional training or support. Outcomes will be collected at baseline, 4 and 9 months. Our co-primary outcomes are change in health providers’ knowledge of responding to elder abuse and older people’s sense of safety and quality of life. We will include all inpatients at participating sites, aged 65 + (or aged 50 + if Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander), who are able to provide informed consent and all unit staff who provide direct care to older people; a sample size of at least 92 health providers and 612 older people will provide sufficient power for primary analyses. Discussion: This will be one of the first trials in the world to evaluate a multi-component elder abuse intervention. If successful, it will provide the most robust evidence base to date for health providers to draw on to create a safe environment for reporting, response, and referral. Trial registration: ANZCTR, ACTRN12623000676617p. Registered 22 June 2023. © The Author(s) 2024
Autistic Artistic : an exploration into Autistic female artists through portraiture and augmented reality
Get PDFAs an Autistic woman artist, I demonstrate that there is a gap in research into Autism that leaves female and non-binary Autistics under diagnosed. I have researched this gap as it pertains to female and non-binary Autistic artists and discuss Autistic female and non-binary experiences within art by embracing the disability wholly and warmly, celebrating the numerous creatives within Autism. My questions are: How Autism affects my art and vice versa. How does my art encapsulate Autism? How being a female Autistic has shaped my experience? I have also discussed other female and non-binary Autistic artists in the creative field. This research is not focused on overcoming disability nor creating art regardless of our disability but is focused on us as the artists that we are. Portrait painting is the medium and the subjects are my Autistic friends within the Autistic community of which I am one. Autism research concentrates on male presentations, heralding Autistic male genius while disregarding women as too ‘low functioning’ to be creative and imaginative, as stated by Michael Fitzgerald in Autism and Creativity: Is There a Link Between Autism in Men and Exceptional Ability? Current perceptions of female Autism are a derivation of male-centric investigations, leaving female Autism undiagnosed and understudied, leading to ableist and sexist situations. I have gained Ethics approval to paint and photograph my Autistic Female Creatives in a live sitting.Partial Master of Art
The need for cybersecurity self-evaluation in healthcare
Get PDFThe Australian healthcare sector is a complex mix of government departments, associations, providers, professionals, and consumers. Cybersecurity attacks, which have recently increased, challenge the sector in many ways; however, the best approaches for the sector to manage the threat are unclear. This study will report on a semi-structured focus group conducted with five representatives from the Australian healthcare and computer security sectors. An analysis of this focus group transcript yielded four themes: 1) the challenge of securing the Australian healthcare landscape; 2) the financial challenges of cybersecurity in healthcare; 3) balancing privacy and transparency; 4) education and regulation. The results indicate the need for sector-specific tools to empower the healthcare sector to mitigate cybersecurity threats, most notably using a self-evaluation tool so stakeholders can proactively prepare for incidents. Despite the vast amount of research into cybersecurity, little has been conducted on proactive cybersecurity approaches where security weaknesses are identified weaknesses before they occur. © The Author(s) 2024
Comprehensive review and future perspectives on prediction and mitigation of tunnel-induced ground settlement : a bibliometric analysis and methodological overview (2002–2022)
Get PDFPredicting and controlling tunnel-induced ground settlement is crucial for ensuring safety and minimizing environmental impact. However, current research methods are varied, each with specific conditions and limitations, making a comprehensive review necessary. In this paper, 1209 research papers on tunnel-induced ground settlement (2002–2022) collected from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) were analyzed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer bibliometric analysis techniques. The analysis findings reveal three developmental stages in tunnel-induced ground settlement research. Additionally, knowledge maps are generated, including collaborative network maps depicting countries, institutions, and authors, keyword co-occurrence maps, and time trend maps. In order to comprehensively summarize the research progress in the field, the four prediction methods: empirical, analytical, numerical, and intelligent methods, are discussed in depth. Subsequently, the common methods of tunnel construction are introduced, and the measures to control ground settlement during shield construction are discussed. Finally, the paper presents the main future research directions in the field of ground settlement. Different technological advancements, with a particular emphasis on subsidence monitoring, highlight the significance of integrating multiple technologies. The application of multi-technology integration, including artificial intelligence, big data analysis, and sensor technology, is identified as a crucial direction for future development. © 2024 The Author(s)
Adaptive scaled boundary finite element method for hydrogen assisted cracking with phase field model
Get PDFThis study introduces a numerical framework for analysing hydrogen assisted cracking, employing the scaled boundary finite element method. This is the first instance where the scaled boundary finite element method is employed to model hydrogen embrittlement. The phase field model is utilized to simulate defects, complemented by adaptive meshing using polytree mesh. The ability of the scaled boundary finite element method to treat polygonal elements assists in mitigating the problem of hanging nodes that arises from polytree decomposition. The adaptive framework is developed to predict crack propagation using an initial unstructured quadrilateral mesh generated from any commercial software. The hydrogen atom concentration depends on the hydrostatic stress gradient, which is calculated by interpolating nodal hydrostatic stress with scaled boundary shape functions and taking the gradient. A staggered solution approach is adopted to concurrently tackle hydrogen transport, elasticity, and phase field equations. The methodology is validated using Mode-I edge notch specimens and analysing crack propagation from corrosion pits, with results demonstrating close agreement with existing data. Subsequently, the framework is extended to address more intricate scenarios, such as crack propagation in X-shaped plates and hydrogen transmission in tanks. As the last example, more advanced image based fracture analysis of weld structure is investigated. This example studies the possibility of analysing the hydrogen diffusion directly from TEM imagery. Moreover, we investigate how hydrogen concentration influences structural failure. © 2024 The Author(s
EYA-1 is required for genomic integrity independent of H2AX signalling in Caenorhabditis elegans
Get PDFBackground: Resolving genomic insults is essential for the survival of any species. In the case of eukaryotes, several pathways comprise the DNA damage repair network, and many components have high evolutionary conservation. These pathways ensure that DNA damage is resolved which prevents disease associated mutations from occurring in a de novo manner. In this study, we investigated the role of the Eyes Absent (EYA) homologue in Caenorhabditis elegans and its role in DNA damage repair. Current understanding of mammalian EYA1 suggests that EYA1 is recruited in response to H2AX signalling to dsDNA breaks. C. elegans do not possess a H2AX homologue, although they do possess homologues of the core DNA damage repair proteins. Due to this, we aimed to determine if eya-1 contributes to DNA damage repair independent of H2AX. Methods and results: We used a putative null mutant for eya-1 in C. elegans and observed that absence of eya-1 results in abnormal chromosome morphology in anaphase embryos, including chromosomal bridges, missegregated chromosomes, and embryos with abnormal nuclei. Additionally, inducing different types of genomic insults, we show that eya-1 mutants are highly sensitive to induction of DNA damage, yet show little change to induced DNA replication stress and display a mortal germline resulting in sterility over successive generations. Conclusions: Collectively, this study suggests that the EYA family of proteins may have a greater involvement in maintaining genomic integrity than previously thought and unveils novel roles of EYA associated DNA damage repair. © The Author(s) 2024
Elucidating novel functions of Magmas protein in ovarian cancer progression and chemoresistance
No full textOvarian Cancer (OC) is one of the lethal gynaecological cancers that affects women worldwide. The cancer is characterised by genomic instability and is affected by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the tumour microenvironment. Mitochondria is a multi-purpose organ that contributes to several cancer-associated biological processes, including energy metabolism, oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy, calcium signalling, immunity, and drug resistance. Ovarian cancer progression involves alteration in mitochondrial morphology, which facilitates adaptation of OC cells to hypoxic microenvironment crucial for peritoneal dissemination. This process promotes production of ROS which can be harmful to intra-abdominal organs. Mitochondria associated granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (Magmas) is a novel protein located in the inner membrane of mitochondria and is an effective scavenger of ROS in cellular systems. In this thesis project I investigated the role of Magmas and the efficacy of its novel small molecule inhibitor BT#9 in the progression and metastasis of OC. I showed that expression of Magmas increases significantly in high-grade OC compared to benign ovarian tumour patient samples. I also demonstrated that expression of Magmas has an inverse correlation with the 4-Hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) in OC patient tumour samples. Thus, indicating the role of Magmas as an effective ROS scavenging protein. Inhibition of Magmas by a specific small molecule inhibitor, BT#9, induced apoptosis/necrosis, inhibition of migration, proliferation, increased ROS levels and reduced mitochondrial activity in OC cell lines. Oral administration of BT#9 in nude mice resulted in a significant reduced OC tumour burden. However, combination of BT#9+PTX treatment facilitated further reduction in tumour burden, indicating that BT#9 can be a good additive to use with PTX in OC patients. Global and phosphoproteomics on mouse xenografts revealed that BT#9 and PTX treatment individually affect major cellular pathways involved in normal cell functions. Interestingly, combined PTX +BT#9 treatment proteome data demonstrated some common and exclusive pathways affecting cellular death and functions, indicating that the combined treatment can be more effective than that observed by single BT#9 or PTX treatments. These approaches identified some novel targetable proteins that could be pursued in future in addition to the inhibition of Magmas by BT#9 treatment. Overall, this thesis identified important regulatory functions of Magmas in OC progression. Using global and phosphoproteomics approaches, this thesis also identified several novel proteins and phosphoproteins associated with different cellular mechanisms which with further validation and evaluation could potentially direct their use as novel OC biomarkers for molecular diagnosis, prognosis, and future therapeutic options.Doctor of Philosoph
Mental health nurses' attitudes towards consumers with co-existing mental health and drug and alcohol problems : a descriptive study
Get PDFWhat is known on the subject? : Dual diagnosis is one of the leading causes of disability globally. There is limited evidence on mental health nurses' attitudes towards consumers with dual diagnosis. What does the paper add to existing knowledge? : Mental health nurses have positive attitudes towards consumers with dual diagnosis. A positive attitude at work is influenced by various factors, including feeling that one's role is appropriate and legitimate. This also includes receiving support in that role, being motivated to work, having confidence in completing tasks and feeling satisfied with one's job. Abstract: Background: Dual diagnosis is a global health concern. This descriptive research assessed mental health nurses' attitudes towards consumers with dual diagnosis in Australian mental health settings. The research question was: What is the attitude of mental health nurses towards consumers with co-existing mental health and drug and alcohol problems?. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey included 103 mental health nurses who work with consumers with dual diagnosis. Participants were recruited from various mental health settings through convenience sampling. The Comorbidity Problems Perceptions Questionnaire was used to assess attitudes. Descriptive data and multiple regression analyses were conducted. We utilized the consensus-based checklist for reporting results of this study. Results: Mental health nurses positively perceived consumers with dual diagnosis. Factors associated with a positive attitude were a higher level of work experience, feeling that one's role is adequate, perceiving one's role as legitimate, receiving increased support in one's position, having high work motivation, possessing high task-specific self-esteem and experiencing higher levels of work satisfaction. Work experience predicted role adequacy. Position predicted role support. The work sector predicted role-related self-esteem. Conclusions: As mental health nurses gain work experience; they develop positive attitudes that boost their self-esteem and sense of importance towards consumers with dual diagnosis. This constructive mindset also positively affects their work motivation and job satisfaction towards consumers with dual diagnosis. Conducting interventional studies is necessary to examine how clinical experiences, work environments, and job positions can impact attitudes, aiming to improve mental health nursing interventions towards consumers with dual diagnosis. Implications to Practice: The study found that mental health nurses' positive attitudes towards consumers with dual-diagnosis are influenced by their experience and knowledge. Moreover, mental health nurses who feel supported, motivated and confident in their roles are more likely to provide high-quality care to consumers with dual diagnosis. Mental health nurses could provide better care and support if they took a proactive approach and addressed the challenges associated with this consumer population. To be successful in their roles, mental health nurses require access to resources and support from healthcare organizations. As a result, their job satisfaction and attitudes towards consumers with dual diagnosis will be enhanced. In this way, consumers as well as healthcare organizations will benefit. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Geotechnical design for open pit coal mining in proximity to electrical power lines: risks, mitigation, and regulatory compliance
No full textOpen pit coal mining near electrical power lines presents distinct geotechnical challenges and regulatory demands, particularly under Section 17.6 of South Africa's Mine Health and Safety Act. This section requires a minimum 100 m buffer between mines and structures such as power lines unless deemed safe at closer distances. To balance safety with economic considerations, a detailed geotechnical risk assessment was performed to reduce this distance without compromising safety. This practical study is pivotal in optimising coal extraction while ensuring the integrity and safety of nearby power lines through well-considered geotechnical design. Employing empirical methods based on geological and geotechnical data, the study proposes a suitable geotechnical design, incorporating slope stability, ground control, and real-time monitoring to evaluate risks. This approach not only ensures compliance with regulatory standards but also enhances economic feasibility by increasing the minable coal resources. The findings highlight the critical role of comprehensive geotechnical design in allowing mining operations to coexist safely with essential power infrastructure. This research provides valuable insights for engineers, regulators, and industry stakeholders, establishing a framework for responsible mining in complex geotechnical environments. The recommendations from this study also guide future mining projects facing similar challenges, promoting sustainable and compliant mining practices. Copyright 2024 ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association